Low-income areas in North Idaho certified for Opportunity Zone investments

The U.S. Treasury Department has certified low-income census tracts as federal “Opportunity Zones” in the cites of Post Falls and Moscow, Idaho, and Benewah, Bonner, Boundary and Shoshone counties.

The census tracts were among 28 nominated throughout the state by Gov. Butch Otter.

Opportunity Zones are a community development program established by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. They are intended to encourage long-term private investments in low-income urban and rural communities by providing tax relief on capital gains.

“This is a great way to drive more capital investment toward Idaho neighborhoods and communities that aren’t benefiting as they should from our statewide economic growth,” Otter said in a news release.

Governors are permitted to designate 25 percent of their state’s low-income census tracts as Opportunity Zones.